Players’ willingness to sacrifice inspires others to fight racism
NBA players, some of whom were against playing basketball at all during these troubled times, thought what they were doing was not enough.
Not the individual community works — donations, foundations, calls to get out the vote.
Not the peaceful protests — prayerful knees before games, thoughtful discussion of change after them.
Not the phrases — written on the court, on practice T-shirts, on jerseys — showing solidarity with a humanitarian cause.
So, the players decided not to run and jump for our entertainment.
Instead, they walked.
The Milwaukee Bucks chose not to take the court for a game Wednesday, and by the end of the day three playoff games, including
Game 5 of the Rockets-Thunder first-round matchup, were postponed. Games were not played Thursday as well, but players met and voted to return to action.
The first question asked when the players didn’t play was how long would the strike last.
A great orator famously asked, “How long?”
Fifty-five years ago. Black Americans ask themselves that question daily.
While this brief NBA protest could save lives, it doesn’t have the immediacy of a fire alarm. The fire that has burned for 400 years will not be doused by a few dozen basketball players sitting out a few games.
But their action, their words, their willingness to sacrifice, could inspire others to grab a bucket of water.
Throw what you can at racism. Every little bit helps. Turn your back on the fire, and you, too, will burn.
What does that have to do with sports? This is an all-Black, allAmerica issue.
Some would have you believe the NBA is played on an imaginary planet where well-paid athletes are a privileged class immune to all societal ills. There is no racism bubble. Every day, we see evidence of the Black man’s plight — a seemingly endless loop of exasperation, anger and bitterness — resulting in hopelessness.
In keeping the conversation going, athletes are keeping hope alive.
Don’t worry — they will get back to dribbling this weekend.
You don’t have to listen to them. Hopefully, one of your neighbors or a co-worker will throw water on your fire.
This humanitarian issue shouldn’t be political, but Black lives were made that in America before the colonies united.
“It’s amazing to me why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back,” Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers said as he fought off tears in discussing the latest shootinggone-viral.
That some can see the son of a police officer’s anguish and hear his pain, yet not be moved to stand up and speak out, is why we remain separate as fingers, not one as the hand. And certainly not working toward mutual progress, as Booker T. Washington imagined.
In the past couple days, Robert Horry, Isiah Thomas and several other NBA players of their generation, my generation, became emotional discussing the times in which we live, the police brutality we can’t escape.
We thought, “Not long.” How wrong we were.
Our forefathers fought and died so we could have a better chance to succeed. So our sons, our daughters, would know
equality. Wouldn’t be targets of violence.
Yet with far more opportunities than all before them, this generation still needs “The Talk.”
That is one reason athletes putting their voice to protest should be applauded. That they don’t hit every note is hardly cause for censure.
Perfection isn’t a prerequisite for being right on this issue. This isn’t a math problem; it is a man problem. A woman problem. An American problem.
We have advanced to where many who hated Martin Luther King Jr. throw his words around as weapons against those he fought for. People who despised Muhammad Ali hold him up as the example Black athletes should emulate, yet lose their minds whenever an athlete comes within a straight right hand of Ali’s politics.
And people who would have been on the wrong side of the Civil War, who in fact still worship and support the despicable traitors who lost, question the patriotism of Black Americans, who have the nerve to ask that America be great, period.
Frederick Douglass said some 160 years ago that power concedes nothing without a demand.
NBA players don’t have a simple demand that can be met in a day or 10 or a thousand. Equality? Justice?
How long?
Black Americans have had requests on hold for more than 400 years.
Credit this generation for its willingness to challenge the system, and in recent years to demand change.
Sports is a distraction from the movement, but not playing games will have no effect on the speed at which racial equality can be achieved. The opposite might even be true.
Play those games, spread the message. Compete for those championships, while earning money that can be used to support organizations of change. Drain those 3-pointers and push team owners, among the most powerful political players in America, to support the cause.
You think Toyota Center would be used as a Harris County voting center this fall were it not for organizations fighting for voting rights?
King said, “Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
It has been bending slowly in America for four centuries. It has never moved without a push.
So, NBA players, don’t just entertain. Engage.
Don’t simply request. Demand.
Don’t just run, jump and dunk. Push.
That is how you make America better.
How long will it take is an unanswerable question.